In the context of the present invention, the term “fluid” is intended to refer to a product which may be liquid, semi-liquid, creamy or pulverulent.
There are known from the prior art, and particularly from patent applications EP 1 407 976, US 2004/047674 and GB 2 232 074, applicators for a fluid product, such as a cosmetic product, of the type comprising:                a container which is provided with a discharge opening,        a control ring which is mounted so as to be movable on the container between a closed position, in which it blocks the opening, and an open position, in which it releases the opening, and        an application member which is mounted on the control ring so as to communicate with the opening when the ring is in its open position.        
Such an applicator can be used in particular for applying make-up foundation powder to the face of a user.
In such an applicator, the control ring is conventionally mounted with helical movement on the container. In other words, in order to open and close the container, the control ring is unscrewed or screwed.
During the use of the applicator, such helical movement leads to given wear (or matting) of the plastics material which forms the various components, in particular in the zone of the screw threads of those components.
As a result, in order to obtain the necessary tightness in the closed position, it is necessary, after each use, to screw the control ring slightly further onto the container.
This is troublesome when the control ring and the container must be mutually aligned in a very particular manner in the closed position, in particular for aesthetic reasons owing to their shape or their appearance.
This may be necessary, for example, because the control ring and the container have shapes which are non-circular (for example, elliptical), which must correspond to each other in the closed position.
This may also be necessary, for example, because the control ring and the container comprise logos and/or decorations which must correspond in the closed position.
In order to overcome those disadvantages, it has been conceived to position an end stop for screwing travel of the control ring on the container.
Although it allows effective alignment of the control ring with respect to the container in the closed position, such a stop has the disadvantage of preventing securing with wear compensation.
In this manner, after a given number of uses bringing about respective wear of the control ring and the container, this results in an applicator which, in the closed position, is not completely fluid-tight, which is obviously very troublesome.